A scientifically tested, powerful kriya from india

[Alvin Chan]

Hi all,

Here is a kriya first taught by my Indian yoga teacher. Later on I saw that in the Discovery Channel. If anyone know the name for this kriya/pranayama, please let me know.

If no one find its name, may be let's call it "strengthened bhastrika" or "violent bhastrika"(a negative version?) or something like that. Enjoy and share your view in this open-source yoga era!

Techniques:

1. Sit in padmasana or Vajrasana. I prefer not to sit in Siddhasana---you will know why soon.

2. Keep the spine straight as usual, hold the two hands in loose fists. Keeping the elbows down and close to the two side of the chest(just as they would be when you stand up and relax the arms), raise the forearms. So now your forearms should form a V-shape with your upperarm. The upper arm should be open somewhat so that the forearms actually point somewhat outward to the two sides. So the two "V" should be seen by someone in front of you. The palm, which is in a fist, should face somewhat forward.  This is the starting position.

3. As you inhale, inhale powerfully and quickily; at the same time shoot your two arms and fingers upward, straight into the sky. So the palm is now opened. And keep it face somewhat forward so that someone in front of you can see both your palms. (don't be too serious on that, though)

4. As you exhale, exhale powerfully and bring you elbows down again besides your chest. Resume the starting position.

5. This is one round. Repeat for 20-60 rounds for each set. Start with 20. And do about 2-3 sets.

additional tips on the techniques:

This is similar to bhastrika, with arm movements added. But with the shooting arm, the chest expands. So unlike bhastrika (at least the bhastrika here in AYP), the focus is not just on the abdominen. And both inhale and exhale and active. Also, the kriya is quite strenuous, so unlike bhastrika which can be done with 2 or even 3 breaths per second, this kriya was usually done(as I observed my teacher and the documentary) quite a bit slower. Hardly more than 1 breath per second. Since each exhale and inhale is pretty quick, that means after each inhale/exhale, there is a stopping time for about 0.3-0.5 seconds. Even that is quite strenuous.

My experience is that the powerful shooting up and down of the arms and hands are quite important.

I was taught to face the palm forward(especially when it goes up), but now I think there's also a reason behind: it opens your chest.

Subjective experience:

Until recently, I didn't do it much except in the yoga center, when my teacher asked me to. But the overall effects are pretty like bhastrika. The tingling in the body, you know. The kriya gives the feeling much faster.

This morning, I tried it on my own after the yoni mudra, with the attention on the spine going up and down just as in the spinal bhastrika. Besides the expected effects of bhastrika, I got a feeling of coldness going up, pretty much like what I felt during tantra practice with spinal breathing.

Scientific experiments:

In the documentary, a physician in india tried to examine the effects of this kriya on patients. And he found, with some surprises, that the depressed (?) patients got very much the same results as if they take prescription drugs, minus the side-effects, of course.

I don't know the exact name for this kriya, so I've difficulty learning more about this. Everything is based just on my memory.

Tradition/history:

This is my missing part, as I don't even know the name. Please help here. In the documentary, it is a single most powerful physical practice taught by a famous spiritual leader in india. I doubt if this alone will give you any dramatic effects, but that's what many followers said, anyway. (cure this and that, almost everything, anyway)

Variations to try

I tried adding the atention moving up and down on my spine, as I've mentioned.

There is another way to move the hands which is taught by another indian yoga master here in Hong Kong, but I think the one here is the better one.

Sequence

I'm not an experienced yogi, so someone please help here. But I think that since it's rather strenuous, so unlike bhastrika it should not be done right before meditation. I tried doing it before spinal breathing, and it seems to enhance the feeling of my spine.  May be doing it after meditation (and enough rest) is another choice.

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Anyone know anything about this kriya?? Give it a try and tell me what you find!

Alvin

[Richard]

Hi Alvin
I tried it this morning with the attention going up and down the spine. Is powerful Its like the Kria's in Kundalini Yoga and certainly gets the energy flowing up and down the spine but in my case I think it might push me a bit over the top energy overload

If you do it I should be careful to keep the attention away from the crown that could be a bit dodgy.

Interesting though could be a good tool for anyone not feeling much in the spine

Richard

[Alvin Chan]

I edited the post to include my thoughts on the sequence, which I think should be different from the usual bhastrika (or should it???)

I tried adding it to the sitting practice again, the second time. This time I do it before the spinal breathing. The first response was that my hands are very tired[] and I can't possibily do it for very long. I think that's why in the class my teacher asked us to do only 20 breaths each set, with3 sets.

quote:Interesting though could be a good tool for anyone not feeling much in the spine

Yes, and that's me! After the kriya, when I did the spinal breathing, I found it easier to feel the spine, with coldness and the difficult-to-describe neurological/biochemical changes! The coldness is not something new to me, but the other feeling is quite new for me, at least it's never that strong before.

[Richard]

Richard

[Alvin Chan]

quote:If you do it I should be careful to keep the attention away from the crown that could be a bit dodgy.

By the way, even this part agrees with my experience so far. I do feel a bit dodgy, or at least some discomfort in my head after the practising it with attention going up and down the spine.

Of course, as a skeptic I will try out more to clear up any doubt about the cause and effect.

[Richard]

Be careful you old skeptic

Premature crown opening can cause depression

WE dont want that do we

Richard

[Slick]

Hello everybody!
I am new to this forum and looking forward to interacting with you guys and sharing my thoughts.
The Pranayama Alvin is referring to is a form of Bhastrika.I have been practicing this method for a long time now and would like to know what type of Bhastrika are you guys practicing and what is the exact technique you follow.I did not understand the technique of Bhastrika which is mentioned in the AYP lessons.
Regards.

[billeejak]

I believe this is a part of the Sudarshan Kriya technique which has been studied and demonstrated to be an effective treatment for depression.

http://www.artofliving.org/r-depression.html

[Alvin Chan]

Thanks for the reply. At least I know the name of this kriya finally! billeejak, my memory of the TV program agrees with what your link says: it's effective on treating depression. Probably it's from the same research.

This doesn't agree with Yogani's theory here: pranayama would lead to agitation when being done without meditation, wouldn't it? This research on Sudarshan Kriya seems to contradict with this. Or is Sudarshan Kriya more special???

[billeejak]

Art of living also advocates an inner silence meditation as well...

http://www.artofliving.org/courses/meditation.htm

The Sudarshan Kriya technique is certainly a neuro-biological practice that affects brain/body chemistry and perhaps the systems electrical signature if you will. However, they also appear to advocate balancing that technique's specific effect with deep meditation that they call Sahaj Samadhi Meditation. This is very similar to what Yogani is teaching no? You can use Sudarshan Kriya as a stand alone practice but they promote combining it with with their Sahaja meditation for greater results.

My experience to date is that a form of "deep meditation" balances pranayama as Yogani describes.